"How ever did you figure that out, Megumi?" Johnny Apple, formerly known as Dev, sneers with a malicious grin.
I grab my knife out of my pocket and hold it defensively in front of me. "Fuck you, Apple! What're you doing here?"
Johnny laughs easily as he stands up and, quick as lightning, disarms me. I try to kick him in the nuts, but his swiftness eludes me, and I end up on my butt on the ground. Johnny hovers over me menacingly, waving my knife tauntingly. I glare at him, my eyes burning with hatred.
Back in 2020, during the year I'm from, Johnny Apple was a severely corrupt government agent that was in charge of running the Underground. He'd kidnapped many and tricked more into entering the Underground, most under false pretenses, and trapped us there for years under the pretense of "protecting us from radiation poisoning." The radiation was allegedly caused an effect of the Nuclear War, aka World War III, between Switzerland and Tibet and their respective allies. Apple ruled with a sharp mind and an even sharper hand. Many military forces were used to prevent an uprising among the people of the Underground. You couldn't walk around without seeing propaganda posters lining the walls, persuading us to "Fight For Our Freedom" -- the infamous slogan used to advertise the U.S.'s participation as an ally of Switzerland. (Ironically, it inspired many to fight for their freedom from Johnny Apple and the Underground.)
"If it's 2015," I ask him, "why aren't you in the Underground? You took me there in 2012 with many others." I do not bring up the fact that he looks about twenty years younger, more like a gawky sixteen year old than the disgruntled mid-thirties man that he's supposed to be.
Apple laughs again. "Megumi, that's just it! The same answer to how you got here when you're supposed to be in the Underground, too, or in 2020: time travel."
"Time travel? How the hell do you think I time traveled? I'm dead, Apple. I'm supposed to be dead right now!" I yell. "Did I time travel back from the dead?! That's sarcasm, by the way; don't answer that." I stand up and glare eye level at him. "Give me back my knife, you son of a bitch, and get me out of this place. What is it, an Underground prototype?"
"How delightfully sassy you are, my dear." Apple says condescendingly.
"Shut up, you're like twelve. How about you go focus on trying to pop some of those pimples that decorate you're greasy ass face, huh?"
"Oh, burn." He laughs. "I'm so scared." He laughs again. "I should probably offer an explanation to your ignorant self about time travel, hmm? You see," he explains, "it takes an extreme amount of chaotic force to cause it. The force can be either intentional or accidental. Accidental causes time travels that are unintentional, and for example that is the case that is yours, with the chaotic forces being the plane crash and the Rift -- a mere fancy word for the tear in the encasing of Hell that protects the living from the souls of the damned....
"My case just so happens to be intentional. You must have noticed I'm only sixteen, yes? Well, I am an expert time traveler. When I was thirteen, my older self from my twenties visited me to hand me his -- or rather, my -- notes on time travel that I discovered. I've time traveled ever since. That's why I'm in 2015 at sixteen, at the same exact time that I'm 33 and in the Underground. Time travel.
"It's really quite simple. You just need two immense chaotic forces -- one from your location and current time, and the other in the location and time you wish to travel. As an example, let's say I wanted to time travel from the instant of the plane crash on this island, to immediately after the second plane crash at the World Trade Center on 9/11. I'd just have to be at the site of the plane crash here at the time the plane crashed, and imagine the 9/11 crash... and bam! The chaotic forces align, and I'm suddenly a 9/11 survivor."
I blink at him. "There's a Rift between Hell and Earth?"
"That's only a minor detail, Kurosawa. Ignore that. The souls of the damned can wreck havoc however they please. All the matters is that they don't mess with my plans."
"Your plans being...?"
"Well, that'd just ruin the surprise now, wouldn't it, my sweet?" He grins sickly. He snaps his fingers, and the earth begins to rumble and shake. Notebooks fall from the bookshelf. The entire island is in an earthquake!
Megumi Kurosawa -- Day Seven
"How ever did you figure that out, Megumi?" Johnny Apple, formerly known as Dev, sneers with a malicious grin.
I grab my knife out of my pocket and hold it defensively in front of me. "Fuck you, Apple! What're you doing here?"
Johnny laughs easily as he stands up and, quick as lightning, disarms me. I try to kick him in the nuts, but his swiftness eludes me, and I end up on my butt on the ground. Johnny hovers over me menacingly, waving my knife tauntingly. I glare at him, my eyes burning with hatred.
Back in 2020, during the year I'm from, Johnny Apple was a severely corrupt government agent that was in charge of running the Underground. He'd kidnapped many and tricked more into entering the Underground, most under false pretenses, and trapped us there for years under the pretense of "protecting us from radiation poisoning." The radiation was allegedly caused an effect of the Nuclear War, aka World War III, between Switzerland and Tibet and their respective allies. Apple ruled with a sharp mind and an even sharper hand. Many military forces were used to prevent an uprising among the people of the Underground. You couldn't walk around without seeing propaganda posters lining the walls, persuading us to "Fight For Our Freedom" -- the infamous slogan used to advertise the U.S.'s participation as an ally of Switzerland. (Ironically, it inspired many to fight for their freedom from Johnny Apple and the Underground.)
"If it's 2015," I ask him, "why aren't you in the Underground? You took me there in 2012 with many others." I do not bring up the fact that he looks about twenty years younger, more like a gawky sixteen year old than the disgruntled mid-thirties man that he's supposed to be.
Apple laughs again. "Megumi, that's just it! The same answer to how you got here when you're supposed to be in the Underground, too, or in 2020: time travel."
"Time travel? How the hell do you think I time traveled? I'm dead, Apple. I'm supposed to be dead right now!" I yell. "Did I time travel back from the dead?! That's sarcasm, by the way; don't answer that." I stand up and glare eye level at him. "Give me back my knife, you son of a bitch, and get me out of this place. What is it, an Underground prototype?"
"How delightfully sassy you are, my dear." Apple says condescendingly.
"Shut up, you're like twelve. How about you go focus on trying to pop some of those pimples that decorate you're greasy ass face, huh?"
"Oh, burn." He laughs. "I'm so scared." He laughs again. "I should probably offer an explanation to your ignorant self about time travel, hmm? You see," he explains, "it takes an extreme amount of chaotic force to cause it. The force can be either intentional or accidental. Accidental causes time travels that are unintentional, and for example that is the case that is yours, with the chaotic forces being the plane crash and the Rift -- a mere fancy word for the tear in the encasing of Hell that protects the living from the souls of the damned....
"My case just so happens to be intentional. You must have noticed I'm only sixteen, yes? Well, I am an expert time traveler. When I was thirteen, my older self from my twenties visited me to hand me his -- or rather, my -- notes on time travel that I discovered. I've time traveled ever since. That's why I'm in 2015 at sixteen, at the same exact time that I'm 33 and in the Underground. Time travel.
"It's really quite simple. You just need two immense chaotic forces -- one from your location and current time, and the other in the location and time you wish to travel. As an example, let's say I wanted to time travel from the instant of the plane crash on this island, to immediately after the second plane crash at the World Trade Center on 9/11. I'd just have to be at the site of the plane crash here at the time the plane crashed, and imagine the 9/11 crash... and bam! The chaotic forces align, and I'm suddenly a 9/11 survivor."
I blink at him. "There's a Rift between Hell and Earth?"
"That's only a minor detail, Kurosawa. Ignore that. The souls of the damned can wreck havoc however they please. All the matters is that they don't mess with my plans."
"Your plans being...?"
"Well, that'd just ruin the surprise now, wouldn't it, my sweet?" He grins sickly. He snaps his fingers, and the earth begins to rumble and shake. Notebooks fall from the bookshelf. The entire island is in an earthquake!